[Dixielandjazz] Private labels [was Alan Vache & Others]

[Bigbuttbnd at aol.com]

<<Rocky, 

I'm just beginning to think about putting all my LPs on CD. I think I've
got the music part licked (although I'm open to suggestions and advice),
but do you have any good way to get the jacket info reproduced? And what
do you recommend for making labels and inserts on a one-each basis?

Thanks,
Jerry Gordon, Troy, NY >>
==========================
Jerry:

I'm doing the same thing. I have about 1000 albums and I should probably 
finish about the time I die! (The grave stone will say "He finally finished 
something!")

I made the concious decision to make the final product look as if I purchased 
it... something I would be proud of in my CD collection. Of course, I'm a 
little ANAL that way, being a graphic designer and all... I want things to look 
good as well as sound good...

I just scan the LP jackets in. I use Photoshop but I'm sure less expensive 
software would work just as well. My scanner is not wide enough to scan the 
whole jacket in one pass... so I do it in 2 passes. Then, in Photoshop, I paste 
one scan over the other, line them up by using some transparency tools (so I can 
see the one underneath and the one on top at the same time) and then flatten 
the image into 1 layer. I do some touch up to repair ragged places or areas 
where the color has worn off or something was spilled on the jacket. When I'm 
satisfied with the look I crop the file closely using a crop tool that is square 
(just as wide as tall - both LP jackets and CD Jewel case FRONT inserts are 
square). 

I do the same for the back and I have developed some templates for both front 
and back. The back is wider than it is tall on the CD and the amount of 
scaling necessary to get it down to size will usually render the text on the back 
too small to be legible. I take some liberties on the back as many old LPs, 
especially reissues, use the back as an AD for other albums (who wants that?). 
Sometimes I'll take the text from the back and make it bigger in relation to the 
rest of the back than the original so it can be read when scaled down. Some
times I'll superimpose a tune list over the scan of the back. Whatever suits my 
fancy. I set new type for the splines so the CD looks good and is legible on a 
shelf.

I usually make some kind of stick-on label for the disc itself. Often I will 
scan in one side of the label from the LP just to give it a cool-looking, 
related feel. Sometimes I'll set new type for the tune list here and superimpose 
that over a photo if one appeared on the LP interior paper liner or if there 
was a booklet inside.

I scale all of these items down to the proper size using a template I 
developed for some of my software and then print them (the front and the back on 1 
piece of glossy paper, Disc label on 1/2 of glossy sticky label paper) on my 
little old Epson 640, a very cheap printer but one that performs well at maximum 
resolution (740 dpi) on glossy photo paper. My template contains visible cut 
lines. I move the paper to the paper cutter and cut it down to size, fold the 
back, insert the inserts, stick on the sticky label and... voila.... my CD 
looks EXACTLY like the album and exactly like it was purchased commercially. 
Although not EXACT, a CD front is roughly 4.75" x 4.75" and the back is 4.75" tall 
and about 5 3/8" wide. Of course, you need to add more space to both sides of 
the back in order to print the splines on each side.

You have to get used to cutting EXACTLY along the cutlines and the hard edge 
of the paper cutter makes a good place to FOLD the back. I buy jewel cases in 
bulk (about 50 in a box) that come disassembled, which makes assembly easy.

One idea that might cut down the workload for all of us would be to share 
some of these files with each other. If I own the original album it would not be 
illegal for me to convert that album (LP) and it's jacket to CD for my own 
use, providing I don't sell (or give away) the CD or LP separately, keeping them 
together. Likewise, if you owned the same album and did the same conversion 
you would be on solid ground, as well. Logically speaking, then... we could 
share the workload on 2 albums that we BOTH owned... I would make the  digital 
conversion and the label to one and you the other. I'd make an extra copy of mine 
for you and you an extra of yours for me... Remember... we BOTH OWN the 
originals of  EACH... then we would exchange the files and the outcome would be the 
same. I would posess both the original LP and CD copy to both albums and so 
would you. No one has profited. No one has obtained music they didn't already 
own. No one has SOLD anything.

Food for thought for everyone on the list. 

Much of my music collection ranges ouside traditional jazz and dixieland but 
I want to convert all of it. Often I subscribe to several MP3 newsgroups where 
people from all over the world are doing the very same thing. I only download 
music that I already own in LP form. Someone has already done the conversion 
to digital. I use their conversion instead of doing it myself (if it sounds 
good) and then add my LP scans for the inserts.

Let me know if you want or need more info on any of these subjects.

Rocky Ball, banjo
Atlanta